Bad call by judge hurt me, says Greg
GREG Rutherford claimed he was hindered in his quest to defend his Olympic long jump title by incompetent judges mistakenly giving him a foul attempt.
The 29-year-old leapt to a bronze medal with his final attempt of the evening but said it might have been even better had he not been given a foul jump with his penultimate effort despite being behind the takeoff board.
The jump itself, which was measured at 8.28m, would not have been enough to win him gold but it would have put him in second place at that stage and changed the complexion of the competition by putting pressure on his rivals.
‘I had a slight annoyance when the judges told me the foul they had given me wasn’t a foul after they’d given me the mark. It would have put more pressure on the field again but I didn’t have the opportunity because they gave it as a foul.
‘It wouldn’t have been enough to win but it would have solidified my bronze medal place for sure and put me in a much stronger position and relieved a bit of pressure, because I’d have been going into that last round already as a medallist.
‘That’s hard to take but sometimes things don’t go smoothly. I come into these competitions to win, not to get silver or bronze, so it is frustrating.’
Rutherford leapt to 8.29m with his final attempt. But it was not enough to beat American Jeff Henderson, who won with a leap of 8.38m. It means Rutherford is no longer the Olympic, world, Commonwealth and European long jump champion. ‘It’s a very hard bronze medal to take,’ he said. ‘If you’d told me 10 years ago I would be gutted with an Olympic bronze, I’d have told you not to be so stupid.
‘I mustered enough to get me from fourth into a bronze medal position but that isn’t good enough in my eyes. I was a bit flat and that’s frustrating.’
He added on Twitter: ‘When your best isn’t good enough it hurts and I want to rectify what’s happened. Thank you again for the love. It means so much.’